When to hire a Chief Digital Officer

There was a fun tweet today which went something like this

You should hire a Chief Digital Officer if:

• CEO has a Blackberry
• CMO buys TV/radio ads
• CIO uses AOL email

It made me think of a whole lot of corollaries
You should hire a Chief Digital Officer if *anyone* at C-level or the board thinks:

• Thinks the internet is a channel
• Thinks the internet is not relevant
• Thinks the internet is overhyped

And then there are these. You should hire a Chief Digital Officer if anyone at C-level or the board thinks:

• Thinks digital transformation is overhyped 
• Thinks digital transformation is not relevant

Those rapidly flowed to these . . . you should hire a Chief Digital Officer if anyone at C-level or the board thinks:

• They've done digital transformation - the company HAS a web site already
• Digital transformation doesn't work in their sector - they've tried something and it failed 
• Thinks digital transformation is not relevant

And then there are these - that you should hire a Chief Digital Officer if any of the following apply :

• You don't have or understand a portfolio approach to risk involved in digital 
• CEO or board have not bought from their own site themselves
• CEO has not spent time intensively looking at his own company's social media personally with someone not responsible for generating the content
• Whoever is in charge of digital customer experience only uses one type of mobile (apple/android/windows/blackberry)
• CEO has not bought from their own site on a tablet
• CEO doesn't know what a platform is or why platform should take priority over product
• CEO doesn't know what a minimal viable product is
• Digital is put off until next year